Response Certainty Research Articles

The effects of uncertainty in error monitoring on associated ERPs

A series of experiments were conducted to address the effect of uncertainty regarding performance for predicting the likelihood of a correct-response negativity (CRN) in addition to error-related negativity (ERN). In Study 1, 18 healthy young adults completed letter discrimination tasks during single and dual attention conditions designed to manipulate response certainty. In the second study, the same participants completed easy and difficult tone discrimination tasks designed to influence stimulus certainty. In the third study, task difficulty was manipulated to produce different error rates without altering certainty. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that error and correct responses are processed more similarly when uncertainty is present (i.e., ERN ≈ CRN). Furthermore, uncertainty was associated with attenuation of the ERN and enhancement of the CRN, consistent with an error detection hypothesis. Study 3 indicated that task difficulty alone does not influence the ERN or likelihood of a CRN. These results offer support for the error detection account of the ERN and establish the role of uncertainty in predicting the CRN, as postulated by Scheffers and Coles (2000).

Measuring information accessibility and predicting response-effects

Respondents’ reports about the frequency of everyday behavior are often found to differ considerably when either low- or high-frequency response scales are used to record the answers. It has been hypothesized that the susceptibility to this type of response effect is determined by the cognitive accessibility of the respective target information in respondents’ memories. The first aim of the present paper is to test this hypothesis using two alternative, individual level indicators of the cognitive accessibility of information. These measures are the subjects’ self-reported response certainty and the time needed to answer the question under consideration. A second issue is how response certainties and response latencies should be transformed prior to data analysis in order to maximize their predictive power for response effects. Accordingly, the ability of untransformed measures to predict scale effects is compared with that of logarithmic, square-root and reciprocally transformed versions. The empirical results show that untransformed response certainties and response latencies are equally valid predictors of whether and to what extent subjects’ answers are affected by the presentation of response options. A square-root transformation is found to have no effect on both measures, whereas a logarithmic transformation slightly improves the validity of response certainties. In contrast, a reciprocal transformation proves to have a substantially positive effect on both measures and improves their ability to predict the reliability of respondents’ survey reports.

Odor threshold, recognition, discrimination and identification in centenarians

The main purpose of this study was to learn the use of select measures that are relevant to olfactory discrimination, identification and recognition and to ascertain the appropriateness of extant methods and procedures for adaptation for use with the oldest-old. A second purpose of this study was to attempt initial examination of the relationship of different memorial systems in the oldest old through an atypical sensory modality. Twenty-one centenarians (mean=105.1 years) were tested on odor thresholds for phenethyl alcohol (PEA) and menthol, recognition and discrimination of lexically challenging odors, and identification of common odors. Chronological age was not found to be a significant predictor of abilities for any of the tasks. Thresholds for PEA and menthol were found to be better than anticipated levels and were associated with odor recognition and certainty of response. Mini Mental State Examination scores were not found to be associated with olfactory measures, contrary to expectations. Findings suggest much of the previous research into olfactorial abilities of older adults may have failed to account for the influence of illness, trauma, dementia and pathologies typically associated with age. In light of their performance on the tasks, the relative good health and cognitive status of the participants strengthens the idea that olfaction is an appropriate addition to diagnostic tests of Alzheimer's and other diseases.

S-R Compatibility Effects without Response Uncertainty

Five experiments investigated whether cognitively based spatial S-R correspondence effects or “compatibility” effects can occur in simple reaction time (SRT) tasks and if so, which factors might be responsible for their occurrence and size. In Experiment 1, responses were cued before each trial, but made only after presentation of a Go signal. There were considerably faster responses with spatial correspondence of Go signal and response, demonstrating that response certainty does not prevent a compatibility effect. Experiment 2, a SRT task with “extra” trials requiring responses with the same or the opposite hand, indicated a major determinant of this effect to be the keeping of two task-relevant responses in a state of readiness. Experiment 3 provided preliminary evidence for “inertia” effects—that is, for stronger correspondence effects with frequent than with infrequent alternations between left-hand and right-hand blocks. Experiment 4 showed that correspondence effects can be obtained by using a within-hand response repertoire. Experiment 5, a replication of Experiment 3 with within-hand responses, found further evidence for inertia effects. For all experiments, reaction time distribution analyses were carried out to gain insight into the temporal dynamics of correspondence effects. Altogether the results strongly suggest that most if not all correspondence effects had a cognitive rather than an anatomical origin. This raises some doubts about conclusions from prior attempts to measure interhemispheric transmission costs by means of SRT tasks.

Universals of Word Formation Processes: Noun Incorporation in the Acquisition of Samoan as a Second Language

This study examines the influence of a proposed implicational hierarchy (Mithun, 1984) and constraints of Universal Grammar (Baker, 1988) on the acquisition of noun incorporation processes by 29 adult learners of Samoan, compared to the performance of a control group of 11 native Samoan speakers. The methodology involved reaction time, grammaticality judgment and response certainty measures of the processing difficulty and acceptability of examples of noun incorporation for English speaking learners of Samoan, with the latter measure giving the clearest support for two hypothesized orders of difficulty.

Adaptive Feedback in Computer-Based Instruction: Effects of Response Certitude on Performance, Feedback-Study Time, and Efficiency

This study compared the effects of response-certitude adaptive and non-adaptive feedback within a computer-based lesson of verbal information and defined concept tasks. Effects were measured on student performance, feedback-study time, and lesson efficiency. Undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of two treatments—one in which amount of feedback information varied according to a combined assessment of response correctness and student's response certainty level, and another in which feedback information did not vary. Results indicate that effects of adaptive feedback were not significantly different from non-adaptive feedback on student performance. Feedback-study times for low certitude responses were significantly higher than for other response combinations. In terms of feedback efficiency, adaptive feedback was significantly more efficient than non-adaptive feedback, but for overall lesson efficiency, non-adaptive feedback was significantly more efficient. Results are discussed in light of past research and implications for future studies are presented.

Sources of Variation in Ethnographic Interview Data: Food Avoidances in the Ituri Forest, Zaire

Traditionally, ethnographic researchers have relied heavily on the interview as a method of collecting data (Bernard 1988:203). This prevalence of interviewing is not just characteristic of anthropology: Certairnly, the survey-interview is the best-known method of data-collection in the social sciences (Dijkstra and van der Zouwen 1982:2). As a result, there is a vast literature on how to conduct interviews effectively (e.g., Bradburn et al. 1979; Dillman 1978; Foddy 1993; Rossi et al. 1983; Sudman and Bradburn 1982). However, regardless of the skill with which ethnographers conduct interviews, they often find that when they ask more than one information the same question, different answers are elicited, even when the question bears on cultural beliefs or values. How is this variability in response to the same question to be interpreted? Does it mean that different informants have different beliefs concerning the topic of the question? Should it be interpreted as spurious deviation from a culturally normative response arising from situational vagaries (e.g., the weather on the day the question was asked)? Alternatively, have some informants been unable to learn the appropriate response for some reason? Or does this variability result from a misunderstanding of the question and/or the anthropologist's lack of comprehension of what the informant responded? Similar interpretational difficulties arise when a single informant responds differently to the same question on separate occasions. Ethnographers have not had available the theoretical or empirical tools needed to determine the relative importance of different sources of variability in primary ethnographic data. Boster and Weller (1990:172) identify this as a central problem for ethnographic research: we believe there are still no clear criteria for identifying variation [in responses] as either cognitive, contextual, or simply noise. As a result, although many anthropological studies have tacitly recognized the existence of variability in the beliefs and behavior of different individuals from the same cultural group, most ethnographers have chosen to ignore that variability when conducting their analyses or presenting their results (Pelto and Pelto 1975:2). Instead, ethnographies have traditionally been constructed on the assumption that group-level processes dominate, with individual-level variability being ephemeral. However, when significant intracultural variability in belief does exist, the use of categorical statements to characterize cultural groups as a whole can seriously misrepresent the ethnographic reality being described. This misrepresentation is even more likely to occur when ethnographers follow the traditional practice of asking only a relatively few (i.e., key) informants about any particular topic. If informants do not respond consistently to questions, then the certainty of an particular response is low. Building an interpretation of some aspect of culture based on a series of such weak links can severely reduce the likelihood of arriving at a valid conclusion. This problem makes clear the importance of determining the reliability of responses to questions under field conditions. This article will show that the various influences on what informants report can be identified and their influence on those reports assessed. By using what I call the Reflexive Analytical approach to ethnographic data collection and analysis, the ethnographer can simultaneously solve the two related but distinct problems just discussed: namely, the problems of determining whether there is substantive intracultural variability in belief, and whether particular responses are reliable.(2) First, by partitioning variability in interview responses to different influences using a statistical model, the method determines whether all the observed variability is purely methodological, or represents, at least in part, meaningful differences in belief between individuals in a cultural group. …

Pharmacologic Alteration of the Perception of Being Awake or Asleep

In order to further explore the effects of triazolam on the subjective experience of sleeping, we awakened chronic insomniacs with an electronic tone at five points across the night after having administered placebo and three doses of triazolam (0.125, 0.25 and 0.375 mg). Triazolam reduced the likelihood of subjects reporting that they had been awake by about half. Drug effects were most evident in the period 5 minutes after "lights out", at which time there was a reduction in the certainty of the subjects' response; the investigator's ratings of mental activity on the dream complexity scale rose from a rating of "awake" following placebo to the borderline of sleep following triazolam. After triazolam administration, subjects reported less certainty about their descriptions of mental imagery. These data are consistent with a hypothesis that during sleep, and particularly at the threshold of electroencephalogram (EEG) defined sleep, triazolam induces cognitive changes in which the subjective distinction between waking and sleep becomes less clear. Several approaches are suggested to determine whether these effects are related to retrospective subjective reports of hypnotic efficacy.

The use of informational feedback in instruction: Implications for future research

The use of informational feedback has long been advocated and verified as being an important part of learning. Many studies have been conducted to examine which variables might affect learning from feedback. The purpose of this review is to examine these studies within various constructs and identify areas that need further investigation and clarification. Feedback is examined from early studies, which viewed the process behaviorally as reinforcement, to present research that advocates an information-processing perspective and an emphasis on error correction. A current model of feedback (Kulhavy & Stock, 1989) is presented as a context for discussion. The issues of response certainty, feedback elaboration, and error analysis are also addressed. Recommendations to future researchers are presented in light of conclusions drawn.

Knowing That You Know: An Essay on Mechanistic Metaknowledge

Humans are adept at providing accurate statements of confidence in their perceptual identification and recall memory responses. In spite of this, mechanical pattern-recognition systems and other artificial intelligence devices seldom express response certainty. The purpose of this paper is to show how useful confidence ratings can be in integrating the results of a variety of pattern-recognition systems to produce a single, optimal decision concerning the target to be recognized. We outline several ways neural network pattern-recognition systems could be modified to issue confidence ratings with each classification response. In sketching a mechanical system of confidence ratings we find we have also provided a preliminary framework for understanding human confidence judgments and human metacognition.

The Instructional Effect of Feedback in Test-Like Events

Feedback is an essential construct for many theories of learning and instruction, and an understanding of the conditions for effective feedback should facilitate both theoretical development and instructional practice. In an early review of feedback effects in written instruction, Kulhavy (1977) proposed that feedback’s chief instructional significance is to correct errors. This error-correcting action was thought to be a function of presentation timing, response certainty, and whether students could merely copy answers from feedback without having to generate their own. The present meta-analysis reviewed 58 effect sizes from 40 reports. Feedback effects were found to vary with control for presearch availability, type of feedback, use of pretests, and type of instruction and could be quite large under optimal conditions. Mediated intentional feedback for retrieval and application of specific knowledge appears to stimulate the correction of erroneous responses in situations where its mindful ( Salomon & Globerson, 1987 ) reception is encouraged.

Management Dilemmas and Decisions

This study assesses the impact of decision framing and the anticipated behavior of others on choosing to cooperate in social dilemma problems. Two hundred and eighty-eight students completed a questionnaire which presented two management scenarios representative of social dilemmas a manager might confront in a business environment. The two scenarios were based on parameters established by a generalized uniform N-person dilemma game. One scenario was described in a give-some context (contribute to the collective good); the other was presented in a take-some context (destruction of an existing collective good). After each scenario, information was presented concerning the response proportion of others, the certainty of the others' response, and whether others were expected to cooperate or defect. All four main effects were significant, as well as the interactions of response proportions by game context and response certainty by response direction. Reliable framing effects were evidenced. Individuals were more willing to contribute to a collective good than to experience some personal loss to avoid the destruction of an existing collective good. Findings raise questions concerning the extent of applicability of prospect theory to social dilemmas.

KNOWING THAT YOU KNOW: AN ESSAY ON MECHANISTIC METAKNOWLEDGE

Humans are adept at providing accurate statements of confidence in their perceptual identification and recall memory responses. In spite of this, mechanical pattern-recognition systems and other artificial intelligence devices seldom express response certainty. The purpose of this paper is to show how useful confidence ratings can be in integrating the results of a variety of pattern-recognition systems to produce a single, optimal decision concerning the target to be recognized. We outline several ways neural network pattern-recognition systems could be modified to issue confidence ratings with each classification response. In sketching a mechanical system of confidence ratings we find we have also provided a preliminary framework for understanding human confidence judgments and human metacognition.

The Effects of Familiarization on the Comprehension of Synthetic Speech in Telephone Communication

Text-to-speech systems are currently used in a variety of telephone applications for remote access to information. While this form of synthetic speech may be cost-effective relative to digitized speech, the impoverished quality of the speech signal may adversely affect its comprehensibility in telephone applications. The primary objective of the present research was to investigate the amount of familiarization needed to achieve an asymptotic level of comprehension performance with high-quality synthetic speech presented in the telephone environment. Sixty-four male and female native English speakers listened to digitized natural and digitized synthetic sentences that contained relatively high and low-predictable components. Subjects provided truth-value judgments for which accuracy, response time and response certainty were measured. Results indicate that a high-predictable introductory message of approximately three relatively short sentences may improve comprehension performance of high-quality synthetic speech in some telephone applications.

Blink reflex magnitude during the foreperiod of a warned reaction time task: effects of precueing.

ABSTRACTIn a warned reaction time task blink reflexes were evoked electrically at different points in time during a 3‐s foreperiod between the warning signal (WS) and the response signal (RS;. Two groups of 16 well‐trained right‐handed subjects participated. One group was informed by the warning signal as to whether or not a voluntary blink response was to be given following the response signal. For the other group of subjects, response‐relevant information was delivered by the response signal. Reaction times were shorter when subjects were precued by the warning signal, which indicates a more efficient preparation in this condition. In the blink reflex an early ipsilateral component (R1) and a late bilateral component (R2) could be distinguished. Within 300 ms after the warning signal, an increase in R1 was seen which was more pronounced when the warning signal precued the required response. R2 was inhibited shortly after the warning signal. At the end of the foreperiod R1 increased more and R2 was more inhibited the higher the response certainty. The general conclusion is that the presentation of a warning stimulus has a facilitatory effect on R1 and an inhibitory effect on R2. A warning stimulus with more information results in an extra increase in R1 magnitude only, while preparation for a response is seen in both R1 and R2 magnitudes.

The effect of intermittent noise on vigilance performance.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the level of predictability of intermittent noise on performance on a visual vigilance task. Under a quiet condition and three intermittent noise conditions, subjects (Ss) carried out a 55-min task where they were required to detect a change in the brightness of one element of a visual display. The results indicated that Ss were less sensitive, less accurate, and more prone to response failures during intermittent noise, although responses were faster under noise conditions. Measures of response bias and response certainty were not significantly affected by the presentation of noise. Variation in the level of predictability of the noise affected only the accuracy of response measure during the final quarter of the vigilance task, with the group receiving the least predictable noise performing significantly worse than the other three groups. The results are discussed in relation to theories of noise and performance.

Self-recognition of the face: A study of adolescent narcissism

Two adolescent groups and an adult group were given a self-recognition task involving the tachistoscopic presentation of inverted photographs of their faces. Measures of narcissism, certainty of response, and response strategy were recorded. The young adolescent group was found to be more successful than either the late adolescent or adult groups. The former were also the most narcissistic. No sex difference was found, nor was there any difference when the faces of known or unknown peers were used as distractors. Age and narcissism were found to be equally good predictors of both self-recognition and certainty of response. Young adolescents tended to use the complete gestalt of the face more often as a recognition strategy than older adolescents or adults, who seemed to use idiosyncratic facial features. The results are discussed in terms of integrated approach to the development of body image and how the internal representations of the body are gradually built and modified by perceptual, cognitive, and personality functioning.

Attitude and Prediction of Behavior

The relationship of attitude to behavior is investigated through improvement in attitude measurement and the use of multiple variable analysis. The certainty of response to attitude items was used as a moderator variable to produce better attitude measurement. Regression analysis was used to consider the relation of a number of relevant personal and social variables to attitude, behavioral intention, and behavior. Data supporting the interpretation that certainty identifies individuals with developed attitudes are presented. Analysis of the relation of attitude and other variables to behavioral intention and behavior suggests when respondents are certain of attitude item responses, attitude is a major predictor of behavior and behavioral intentions, and additional personal and social variables fail to markedly improve behavior prediction. These findings are discussed in relation to selected aspects of Fishbein's (1967) analysis of the relation of attitude to behavior.

Attitude and Prediction of Behavior

The relationship of attitude to behavior is investigated through improvement in attitude measurement and the use of multiple variable analysis. The certainty of response to attitude items was used as a moderator variable to produce better attitude measurement. Regression analysis was used to consider the relation of a number of relevant personal and social variables to attitude, behavioral intention, and behavior. Data supporting the interpretation that certainty identifies individuals with developed attitudes are presented. Analysis of the relation of attitude and other variables to behavioral intention and behavior suggests when respondents are certain of attitude item responses, attitude is a major predictor of behavior and behavioral intentions, and additional personal and social variables fail to markedly improve behavior prediction. These findings are discussed in relation to selected aspects of Fishbein's (1967) analysis of the relation of attitude to behavior.

Reaction time under stimulus uncertainty with response certainty.

Reaction time under stimulus uncertainty with response certainty.